[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department
publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime
intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No
attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or
opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

STANDARD GERMAN WEAPONS

The following list gives the more important characteristics of the standard
German weapons now in use. The details given may contain slight
inaccuracies, since a few figures are estimated, and many others have varied
in indifferent tests. The muzzle velocity of an old gun, for example, may be
considerably lower than that of a new one. Ranges, also, may contain some errors, for
they have been taken from tables which reported figures sometimes
as "range," at other times as "effective range," and at others
as "maximum effective range," or merely "effective range." Usually there
has been no indication of which of several possible propelling charges has been used.

Generally, the Germans give their weapons a model number corresponding
to the last two digits of the year in which the first model was produced. Minor
modifications make no change in the model designation, but a major improvement, even
though the weapon remains basically the same, will give the equipment a
corresponding new model number.

French, Polish, Russian, and other captured weapons have not been listed, nor
have certain German weapons, such as heavy artillery, on which no details
are available.

More complete details on the individual guns have been published in previous
issues of Tactical and Technical Trends, and these articles will be
continued in the future. A large amount of enemy materiel is now being examined at
Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and the tests conducted there should provide the
most complete reports yet available on all types of enemy armament.

The next issue of Tactical and Technical Trends will
contain similar data on Italian weapons, and the one after
that, information on Japanese armament.